Logistic regression used to model release year and genres
Rating analysis examines budget, IMDb user ratings, and Metascore ratings across time
Findings show more recent movies in the Comedy or Romance genre have higher predicted probability of passing compared to other genres
Movie must contain two named women who have a conversation that is NOT about a man.
Flaws of the Bechdel Test
| Title | IMDb ID | Year | Genres |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Wars | 76759 | 1977 | Action,Adventure,Fantasy |
| Grown Ups | 1375670 | 2010 | Comedy |
| Bullet Train | 12593682 | 2022 | Action,Comedy,Thriller |
Data Source: IMDb Non-Commercial Datasets
| Title | IMDb ID | Year | Bechdel Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Wars | 76759 | 1977 | Fail |
| Grown Ups | 1375670 | 2010 | Pass |
| Bullet Train | 12593682 | 2022 | Fail |
Data Source: Bechdel Test Movie List (bechdeltest.com)
\[ logit(\pi) = \beta_0 + \beta_1 \cdot \text{Budget} + \beta_2 \cdot \text{Year} + \beta_3 \cdot \text{IMDb Rating} \]
\[ + \text{ } \beta_4 \cdot \text{Metascore} \]
\(\pi\) = probability of passing the test
\(logit\) = log odds of passing the test
\(IMDb \text{ } Rating\) = User ratings
\(Metascore\) = Critic ratings
Data Source: TidyTuesday social data project (Github)
Predicted probability of a movie PASSING increases for:
Movies with lower budgets
Movies with lower IMDb user ratings
Movies with higher critic ratings
| Estimate | Std. Error | z value | Pr(>|z|) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (Intercept) | -29.56 | 17.86 | -1.655 | 0.09793 |
| budget_2013 | -4.733e-09 | 1.211e-09 | -3.909 | 9.255e-05 |
| year | 0.0161 | 0.00886 | 1.817 | 0.06923 |
| imdb_rating | -0.5709 | 0.1055 | -5.413 | 6.213e-08 |
| metascore | 0.02071 | 0.005734 | 3.611 | 0.0003046 |
\[ logit(\pi) = \beta_0 + \beta_1 \cdot Year + \beta_2 \cdot \text{Animation} + \beta_3 \cdot \text{Action} + \beta_4 \cdot \text{Adult} \]
\[ + \text{ } \beta_5 \cdot \text{Adventure} +\ldots + \beta_{29} \cdot \text{Year:Western} \]
\(Animation\) = 1 (yes) or 0 (no)
\(Year:Western\) = interaction term
For recent years, genres with higher probability of PASSING:
Genres with lower probability of PASSING:
Data for Rating Analysis only contains movies up to 2013
Bechdel data contains most popular movies reported by users
Alison Bechdel, 1986. Dykes to watch out for. Firebrand Books.
What “The Bechdel Test” doesn’t tell us: examining women’s verbal and vocal (dis)empowerment in cinema (O’Meara, J., 2016)